Walking Across Rooms

A small group of us from our church just finished a four week study called Just Walk Across A Room. It’s a DVD curriculum based on Bill Hybels’ book of the same name. This resource is for helping Christians do the work of evangelism even if they don’t have the gift of evangelism. Essentially, the message is this: if you are already a faithful Christian, make a genuine effort to befriend people who are far from God—whether in your workplace or neighbourhood or where you enjoy recreation—simply for the sake of loving them where they are. The point is not to see people as evangelism projects but as individuals created by and for God. This means showing interest in them, caring about them, serving them, becoming friends with them, regardless of whether or not they ever show interest in God, church, Jesus, or spiritual matters.

Hybels highlights three friendships throughout the study (through clips and interviews) that he invested himself in and how, in the midst of those friendships, he was given opportunity to share his faith. But all of these friendships began in very ordinary ways. All began, as the title suggests, with a walk across a room, a willingness to leave one’s comfort zone and either help someone out or just strike up a conversation. In one instance, the friendship was eight years old before the person came to faith. One of his friends interviewed has yet to come to faith but is now more open to the possibility.

I don’t intend here to post a full review of this curriculum. But I will say that it’s a great practical way to get people talking and thinking about being ordinary Christians and what it means for each of us to share our faith. I’m hoping to have at least one or two more groups of people use this curriculum in the coming months.

Sometimes when you do a study on a practical topic, you wonder if anyone who did the study will ever actually apply it in their own lives. It’s deceptively easy to take lessons learned in a small group and leave it there and not be intentional about living it out. The Letter of James warns about this very problem.

So the other night I was leaving our church, which is located across the road from our house, and I saw one of my neighbours (whom I don’t know well) working outside building his new garage. Now, as I said, I didn’t know this guy (and still don’t really know him well), and I’m the kind of person who’s usually hesitant about beginning a conversation with a relative stranger. Odd, perhaps, for a pastor. So as I was leaving the church and walking toward our house, I had the feeling that I should stop and talk to the guy. I did, and I’m glad I did so.

Granted, it was maybe a ten minute conversation and wasn’t at all religious. It was, by definition, small-talk. But all conversations—to say nothing of friendships—have to start somewhere. And in this case, I felt I was being challenged by God to live out simply one of the key lessons of this study—sometimes it’s all about walking across the room or, in this instance, across the street.

I have one more example. We have new neighbours. It’s a young couple who bought the house next to ours. They’ve had to do a lot of renovations to the house because there was a fire in the home at the beginning of the year. Anyway, a couple of days ago my little girl and I made a couple of chocolate cakes and decided that we, as a family, ought to bring one of them over to our new neighbours as a way of saying hello and welcome. We ended up hanging out there for more than an hour talking with them and their extended family (who also live in the area). Here it was a matter of a walk down the street.

But both opportunities were simple—simple enough for anyone, and a step taken that could lead to opportunities to share faith with people far from God. Neither occasion demanded that I drop off tracts, share the four spiritual laws, or memorize vast amounts of apologetic information (all of which can still have their place depending on the situation). All one needs is a receptive heart, a willing and submissive spirit, and a desire to show love and concern to others who are as much in need of the gospel we ourselves proclaim through our living. And one the best ways to proclaim Jesus through our living is through simple acts of walking across rooms—which is not unlike what Christ himself did in walking across the room from eternity to time.

Keep on Reading

Over the last year I've been on a Bible reading plan. I must confess, I've never used a Bible reading plan prior to this. But last year when I saw the The Books of the Bible presentation of the TNIV put out by the International Bible Society, I was immediately attracted to the format and its possibilities for encouraging fuller Bible reading. So last January several members of our church committed themselves to reading the Bible in a year. We even had a special service dedicated to the importance of the Scriptures in our lives as Christians -- we also dedicated and handed out these new Bibles during this service.

Generally, one would think that being on a reading plan would make it easier to dedicate oneself to keeping regular in one's Scripture reading. And I think that, largely, this is true. I've been more regular in my reading over the course of this past year as a result. Although one of the things I've said to those also on this reading plan is that the important thing, even if you get behind, is to keep on reading. So, if you're supposed to be in the NT and are still finishing up the OT, don't allow getting behind become a discouragement that halts your reading. Keep on reading. Even if your one year plan turns into a two year plan, keep on reading.

I've had to tell myself this too. Over the summer it was a little easier to let myself get behind, especially once I was in the major prophets. Some portions of Scripture are definitely more challenging and difficult than others. Some books are simply hard to plow through. And as a result, I'm behind myself. And although the reading plan is meant for us to read the Bible through from beginning to end, I've actually chosen to mix-up my reading, moving from Paul's epistles to Acts, to the general epistles, and back to the OT. This, I find, helps. I'm not entirely sure yet whether I'll complete it within the alloted year -- and I certainly plan on attempting this -- my plan is still to keep on reading.

One of the great benefits of a reading plan is that you don't arbitrarily decide what portions of the Bible to read. It's not only about reading your favourite books of the Bible. It's not just about finding an encouraging verse (out of context!) for the day. You're taken through the entire Bible. Rather than sticking primarily to the epistles (especially Paul), the Gospels, and the Psalms, you also have to read the minor prophets, the books of the Law, wisdom literature, and lots of genealogies!

Of course, one of the downsides of a year-long reading plan is that you read at a pace that doesn't really allow for deeper study. And if you get behind at all, playing catch up means you have even less time to ponder the words you read. But, that said, there is some benefit to reading through an entire gospel or epistle all at once as one would a book or novel. Like reading a novel, one is immersed in a story, a world, and you become a participant in it. So much of the Bible is narrative that one must think that God intends this. Verse and chapter divisions, while helpful for some purposes, is not as helpful for this kind of reading as it tends to encourage atomizing the text.

I will say, though, that this kind of Bible reading should not be our only kind of Bible reading. As much as I love reading through a whole book in a sitting (when possible!), as is the case with one of the epistles or even one of the shorter gospels (such as Mark), there's no substitute for deeper, more intensive Bible study. Breaking down verses, getting a grasp of specific words and their meaning in context, pondering the text slowly and prayerfully and studiously is a discipline important for all believers, not only pastors and teachers.

So I encourage those of you who haven't ever tried a reading plan to do so. You may think that there's no way of getting through the Bible in a year, but even if you don't make it all in a year it is good to have the discipline of a reading plan. Probably without exception, most who work through reading plans have days when they miss their daily passages. We all get busy. And sometimes we can let lesser things crowd out the priority of Bible reading. But a reading plan does have a way of reminding, of keeping you on track, and of keeping you accountable. All this to say, keep on reading.

So's Christmas . . .

The other day I was in a grocery store picking up a few things and I heard it, something I wasn't that interested in hearing yet, something that, when you hear it too early, inspires precisely the opposite sentiment intended. That it is Christmas music.

There's a saying: someone will say something is imminent, something's coming, and then someone else will say: "So's Christmas!" And it is. Christmas is coming. I can't stop it, but I can say that I wish it wasn't so quickly pushed on us.

Christmas is a mixed bag. In that bag there is both blessing and curse, good and bad, pleasure and pain, stress and peace. And, inevitably, each year when it approaches I experience mixed feelings. A part of me looks forward to time with family, giving and receiving gifts, seeing the look on my daughter's face when she opens presents. And then another part of me dreads the extra busyness, trips to insanely crowded stores, the swelled budget, and the emotions that go along with years of Christmas memories.

We can bring with us all kinds of unspoken and even unconscious expectations to holidays such as Christmas. Maybe especially Christmas. For years I had a picture in my head of an ideal Christmas. And each year that ideal picture was frustrated. Now, the ideal itself was questionable, to be sure, but I imagine that I'm not unique in having one. Usually there's the perfect Christmas we picture and there's the Christmas we actually experience.

Someone told me the other that the big problem with Christmas is that people get all worked up about how they want it to turn out, their expectations get all ramped up, and so inevitably they end up disappointed. I think that's true. And I think it's partly because people want Christmas to be special and to be the kind of experience that transcends the rest of life. So for example we hope against hope that at least for one day we won't argue with anyone in our family, that there will be "peace on earth." Or that there will be peace at least while someone is passing the potatoes and stuffing and until all the gifts are unwrapped.

Of course, there is nothing special about Christmas -- there's nothing magical about that date on the calendar. If you don't have peace in your heart already, you're not altogether likely to find it on that day. The holiday won't do the job of peace-making for us. Only he whose name is at the root of this holy-day can bring such peace. And the peace he longs to bring to each of us is something we need more than one day out of 365! To that extent, every day should be Christmas day.

So Christmas is coming. Yes it is. And since my wife and mother-in-law love Christmas, I've already begun to hear about it at home too. I guess what I don't like about hearing the music in the stores already is that the mood it hopes to invoke is a manufactured peace, a commercialized sense of hope and cheer. It's the way peace, love, joy, and hope are sold as sale items at WalMart.

When we think we can purchase what we need, we lose sight of the fact that with Christmas God began the transaction that gives us all we need. God purchased our peace through the incarnation -- the coming of God in the flesh -- and eventually through the blood of the cross. What we need, we cannot use a credit card to acquire. What God freely gives, we can never buy. There's never enough money in our account. Love became flesh and blood on that first Christmas. It is a love freely offered, freely given, to be freely received. So when someone says to you, "Christmas is coming," I hope that this comes to your mind more quickly than that shopping list you've drawn up.

Count Your Blessings: Part Two (and, apparently, Three!)

Yes, yes, it's been awhile . . . again . . . I can't say that I have any excuses -- I'm probably no busier than your average person. Perhaps I just need to be better organized with my time. In my defense, I tried to post a couple of days ago and my computer re-booted on its own. Frustrated, I put it off. So here I go again . . .

Last time I mentioned that my wife is pregnant. Well, she had an ultrasound about a week ago and -- lo and behold -- we received some shocking and exciting news: not only is my wife pregnant, but she is pregnant with twins! I must say, I was absolutely stunned; and then once the fact settled in, I became incredibly excited. At least one of the kids is a boy; the other one probably is, but he was "hiding." So in about four or five months we're going to go from being a family of three to a family of five. That'll be an adjustment!

The real blessing here is that we weren't even sure if we were going to have any more kids at all. Since Alisha was seriously depressed during her pregnancy with Ella, doctors actually advised us against it. I guess it was sort of a cost-benefit analysis. It was about weighing the risks. And then in the spring we had a pregnancy scare which made us reconsider the possibility. With much prayer, conversation, and contemplation, we decided to open ourselves to more kids -- though we thought that it would be, at least at first, one kid! When God blesses, sometimes he does so abundantly.

So we have a lot of preparation in the days ahead. And once the shock subsided, my wife and I realized that having twins was going to mean two new carseats, two cribs (eventually anyway), etc. All that said, we're still filled with joy. Now, being a parent and concerned husband, I'll be that much more relaxed when the twins have been successfully delivered and they and Mommy are healthy and well and home. Trepidation accompanies joy.

In weighing the risks of being open to having more kids, we found out we're having two which significantly raises the risks of the pregnancy, not to mention the risks of parenting! One set of risks has been exchanged for another. But I guess life is a risk -- to sound terribly cliche. Life wouldn't be full of much without risks. God blesses -- and richly -- but risks also come along for the ride. The catch is we can't receive blessings without also accepting the risks. Counting our blessings means also counting the costs. And right now I'm glad to be able to count both, because we're having boys!